Day 2 - Dec. 19, 1972

Day two of Operation LINEBACKER II had some minor changes in the flight plans of the B-52s. The altitudes of the bombers were lowered between 34,000 and 35,000 feet. It was the hopes of the mission planners that this would allow the chaff corridors created by the F-4s laid at 36,000 feet to be more effective against the SA-2 SAMs radar. On the first day of the operation several B-52 pilots were performing evasive maneuvers to avoid SAMs even though an order had been issued not to. On Day 2 the Strategic Air Command's Wing Commander threatened to court-martial any pilot who willingly disrupted the cell formation to evade the SAMs.

Wave one was made up of 12 B-52Ds and 9 B-52Gs flying from Andersen AFB, Guam. Their fifteen and a half hour mission concentrated its weapons on the Kinh No vehicle repair complex. They began releasing their bombs at 8:10 PM Hanoi time and for twelve minutes they rained on the Kinh No complex.

Wave two was comprised of 36 aircraft. All the B-52Gs, 21 of them, flew in from Guam. Their flight plan called for them to rendezvous with 15 B-52Ds from U-Tapao before proceeding to Hanoi to bomb the Bac Giang transshipment point and the Hanoi Radio tower. The B-52s formed into three ship cell formations separated by 500 feet altitude and trailed the lead ship at one mile intervals, one off the right wing and the other flying off the left wing.
Begining at 11:50 PM, local Hanoi time, wave two began dropping bombs simultaneously on both its intended targets. For the next twenty-five minutes bombs fell continuously on the Bac Giang transshipment point.

The lead cell over the Hanoi Radio tower was IVORY, made up of 3 B-52Ds from U-Tapao. IVORY cell was within burnthrough range of nine SAM sites. All aircraft employed maximun Track While Scan (TWS) jamming against the SAMs Fan Song radar beams. All the aircraft in IVORY cell maintained good cell integrity throughout the bomb run. Approximately 10 seconds after IVORY 01, B-52D tail number 6592, flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet, released its 108 bombs it began a forty-five degree high-banked 270 degree post-target turn. No one aboard IVORY 01 saw the approaching SAM because of the steep angle of the turn. The SAM detonated approximately 50 to 100 feet off the tail of the bomber causing engine malfunction and severing the right elevator control cable. As IVORY 01 rolled out of the turn and returned to level flight the gunner saw another SAM coming at the aircraft. An evasive turn was made in the opposite direction. This placed the SAM well above IVORY 01 where it detonated without harm to the aircraft. The damaged B-52D continued to fly until it reached Nam Phong base in Thailand where the bomber landed safely.

Three cell behind IVORY was HAZEL cell made up of three B-52Gs. Two of the G-models had unmodified ECM equipment on-board. Modified B-52Gs were those equipped with three ALT-22 Modulated ECM transmitters. The unmodified B-52G aircraft possess ALT-6B unmodulated transmitters in place of the ALT-22s. HAZEL cell flew inbound to the Hanoi Radio station target area approximately 9 miles to the left of its intended track. At approximately 13 miles prior to the bomb release point HAZEL 03, a B-52G tail number 8254, flying at 34,500 feet was engaged by a SAM. HAZEL 02 had an inoperative ALR-20 receiver and HAZEL 01 had two inoperative E/F transmitters. All the aircraft jammed the TWS beams although only HAZEL 01 and HAZEL 02 were jamming the down-link frequency with two jammers apiece. Both HAZEL 02 and HAZEL 03 had uplink signals from SAM radar. The damage of HAZEL 03 is contributed to lack of cell integrity, flying off the fragged course, and insufficient down-link jamming capability. Being within burn-through range of several SAM sites was also a contributing factor. HAZEL 03 was the only B-52G to be damaged by a SAM during Operation LINEBACKER II and not forced down.

Wave three was made up of 36 B-52s with 15 B-52D's and 6 B-52Gs form Andersen and 15 B-52Ds from U-Tapao. Nine B-52Ds from Anderson were again targeted against the Yen Vien railroad yards on the eastern bank of the Red River. This target received 1116 bombs from the B-52s on the first night of LINEBACKER II. QUILT cell led the attack on this target. BRICK cell was right behind them and the final cell to bomb this target on December 19, 1972 was SCARLET. It took approximately eight minutes for the three cells to unload 594 bombs on the target. No SAMs were reported and no B-52s were damaged over this target.

About the time the last explosion took place at Yen Vien railroad yards 27 B-52s were preparing to make a run over a new target thirty-one miles north of Hanoi, the Thai Nguyen thermal power plant. Only one B-52 observed SAMs. PAINT 02 a B-52D from U-Tapao saw four visible SAMs. There was no damage done to any of the aircraft that struck this target but during a post-flight inspection of RAINBOW 01, 30 to 35 holes were noted in the aircraft's skin.



Last edited by Hpasp; 12/20/11 03:22 PM.

Hpasp
Free SAM Simulator, "Realistic to the Switch"

(U-2 over Sverdlovsk, B-52's over Hanoi, F-4 Phantoms over the Sinai, F-16's and the F-117A Stealth bomber over the Balkans.)
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Book from the author - Soviet Nuclear Weapons in Hungary 1961-1991
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